On Meta, the creative is now the targeting. Broad audiences and automated placements mean the platform finds buyers based on who responds to your ad, so your copy decides who sees it as much as whether they buy. That makes ad copy one of the strongest levers a DTC brand has.
Angles come before hooks
An angle is the reason someone would buy: the specific desire, fear or situation your ad speaks to. A hook is the opening line that delivers that angle. Most brands test hooks endlessly while running one angle. Find several angles first, because different angles reach different buyers.
For one product, angles might include:
- The problem angle: the frustration the product removes.
- The identity angle: who the buyer becomes or shows they are.
- The comparison angle: why it beats the thing they use now.
- The skeptic angle: taking on the main doubt directly (“lab-made? here’s what that actually means”).
- The gift angle: who they’d buy it for, and when.
The best source of angles is your customers’ own words: reviews, support tickets, post-purchase surveys and comments on your ads.
Writing hooks that stop the scroll
The first line, and the first second of the video, decides whether anyone reads the rest. Hooks that tend to work:
- Specific callouts: “For anyone whose hair breaks off before it gets past their shoulders.”
- Pattern breaks: a statement that contradicts what they expect.
- Results with a timeframe: concrete outcomes, honestly stated.
- Questions they’d answer yes to: only if the yes leads straight into your product.
Avoid hooks that grab attention but have nothing to do with the product. They bring cheap clicks from people who won’t buy, and the algorithm learns to find more of them.
The body: earn the click
After the hook, the copy needs to do three things quickly: make the benefit concrete, back it with proof, and reduce the risk of trying. Short copy works when the product is familiar and the offer is simple. Longer copy often wins for unfamiliar products, higher prices, or anything that needs explaining. Test both; don’t assume.
What to test first
Testing in the wrong order wastes budget and teaches you nothing. A sensible order:
- Angles — the biggest swings in performance come from here.
- Hooks within the winning angles.
- Format — static, UGC-style video, founder video, carousel.
- Body copy length and offer framing.
- Headlines and CTAs — smallest effect, test last.
Change one major thing per test, give each ad enough spend to tell you something, and write down what you learned, not just which ad won. That record is what lets you write better ads next month.
Match the landing page to the ad
An ad that promises one thing and lands on a page about something else loses the sale at the click. The headline of the page should continue the angle of the ad. For your best angles, that often means a dedicated landing page or product page variant.
Running Meta ads that have stopped scaling? Tell me about your brand and I’ll suggest the angles I’d test next.